Entitativity

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Entitativity means the consideration of something as pure entity, i.e., the mental abstraction from attendant circumstances. In psychology, it typically refers to the perception of a group as pure entity (an entitative group), abstracted from its attendant individuals. It is different from holistic perception. Operationally, entitativity can also be defined as perceiving a collection of social targets (e.g., individuals) as possessing unity and coherence (e.g., a group).

There are two proposed antecedents for the entitativity perception (Ip, Chiu, & Wan, 2006):

• physical similarity
• goal/behavior similarity.

[edit] References

• Ip, G. W. M., Chiu, C. Y., & Wan, C. (2006). Birds of a feather and birds flocking together: Physical versus behavioral cues may lead to trait- versus goal-based group perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 368-381.